Sailors eat mooncakes with schoolchildren as US supercarrier spends Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong
Twenty-five officers visit Po Kok Primary School during USS Ronald Reagan’s transit call in city
Eating mooncakes and making paper lanterns, sailors from the American supercarrier the USS Ronald Reagan celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with primary school pupils in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
On the day of a Chinese festival that signifies family reunion, some sailors said they felt homesick traversing the ocean and often made calls to family and friends at home.
One officer, Nicholas Marcantonio, had learned just three weeks ago that his wife – who is in Japan, where the fleet is currently based – was pregnant and had not yet had the chance to “give her a big hug”.
“It’s the first time I’m meeting children after finding out my wife’s pregnant,” the 28-year-old navy officer said. “It feels different. I now have tears in my eyes watching children’s movies ... Out of all the community service I’ve done, this is the most fun.”
Most of the sailors were trying festive delicacies like mooncakes and star fruit for the first time.